


Followed Her Home

by ShadowHaloedAngel



Series: Stay [6]
Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/F, Heist Wives, Hostage Situations, Manhandling, Poisoning, Post-Prison, Restraints, Self-Sacrifice, Violence, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-28 14:22:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16243445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowHaloedAngel/pseuds/ShadowHaloedAngel
Summary: They're in the lion's den, and it's time for the other shoe to drop. Their captor recognises that Lou and Debbie will do anything for each other, and that just makes the torture more fun. He decides to play a sick little game to see how far he can push them.Prompts: 5. Poisoned/15. Manhandling/18. Hostage/23. Self-sacrifice/25. Restraints; 13. "Stay."





	Followed Her Home

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to flightinflame for sending me the prompts, to Fahre for inspiration, and to Why for being an exceedingly patient and appropriately evil sounding board and second pair of eyes.
> 
> I took one look at the prompts and knew I had to do something with Debbie and Lou for them, but rather than doing the challenge properly with a series of short fics, I ended up planning out a whole series with a story arc and everything, combining prompts into stories. I've never done anything like this before, and I appreciate that I'm not technically doing it properly this time, but I'm excited about it. The whole series is planned, but might not all go up during October depending on how long it takes me to write. Obviously, warning, this is based on Whumptober prompts, and it's going to go pretty dark at times. I promise there will be a happy ending, because I don't do hurt without comfort, it's just that this time there's going to be a little longer to wait. I hope you'll find it worth it.
> 
> Oh, and I'll award cookies to people who figure out what the connection is between work titles as the month goes on

The car pulls up outside what looks like a disused warehouse, or some kind of industrial facility. Debbie bites her lip on the question of whether they might have avoided something so terribly cliche. This is already going to be bad enough without giving them any more reason to be annoyed. Honestly, she feels numb, and it's not just from the cold, it's because Lou is here beside her and Debbie can't see a way out. She's always had a way out before, a fail-safe, a plan B... but this is out of her control and she hates it. 

There are people waiting when they get there, not many, a small group of serious men in suits, who are built like brick walls. Debbie's willing to bet they weigh twice as much as she does, maybe even three times. She can't look at Lou. She wants to, desperately, but she's too scared of what she'll find there. If there's strength, conviction, those are the things she needs, but Debbie is far too scared of seeing fear and blame. She doesn't know what she'll do then. 

The doors unlock and the men outside open them in some twisted parody of courtesy, offering hands to the ladies to help them out, surrounding them with expressionless faces in a wall of menace, and she can't see a way out, doesn't know where they are, and this is quite possibly the most hopeless situation either of them has ever been in. 

They're escorted inside, and honestly the temperature is barely distinguishable from outside. Nobody will come looking in weather like this, even if someone knew they were missing. Of course, Lou's call that they were disappearing means that nobody will, because that's what they've done. Just not how they intended. They're off the main road, there won't be any passing traffic, and the snow is muffling every sound. This doesn't look like the kind of place that's soundproofed, but nature is doing that job for them. 

They stand in the middle of a concrete and steel cavern, and Debbie tries not to think about how easy it will be to wash these floors down when it's finally over. 

"Ah, Miss Ocean, so good of you to join us at last. I do hope you have been enjoying our little game of cat and mouse. It's so much fun, you see, when the cat allows the mouse to escape, to limp away for a little just to prolong the inevitability of defeat. You make a sweet prize indeed, but not as sweet as your friend here... what did you call her? Your partner? How quaint. But I never did understand your American customs."

Debbie is mute. Her tongue feels like lead, her mouth is full of ash, and there is nothing she can say to make this stop. 

"Of course, you understand we will not make this quick."

Another man who loves the sound of his own voice. She hates him. She hates him, and everything he represents, and the power men who love the sound of their own voices think they wield, and the power they do wield, and the power this man in particular wields over Lou's life, and her own. For a brief moment she fantasises about taking that power away. They must be armed, she's sure of that, and for a brief moment Debbie is insulted that they didn't think guns were necessary to keep them under control. Of course, they're right, because the fear of something happening to each other is enough to keep them in place, but she can't help feeling if they were men, if she were Danny, the guns would be out. If she moves fast enough, she could grab one, shoot Lou and then herself, but the simple fact of the matter is that she doesn't want to die. 

She's tuned him out for so long that the "Hold them." takes her by surprise, and now the men are moving and huge hands grab her wrists, pulling them behind her back and holding them tight. She's fairly sure one hand is big enough for both her wrists, and she can feel bones grinding as she tries to twist away from the vice-like grip. 

One look shows her that Lou is being held in the same way. 

"It was so generous of you to bring us something that could ensure your cooperation. Not that we want anything from you but to see you suffer, you understand, but it will make the whole thing a more... gratifying experience. For us, anyway. I believe we shall start with Miss Miller, but obviously there must be some incentive for her to cooperate with us too... I believe I know just the thing."

He turns and picks up a syringe off the table. It's full of something clear, unlabelled and all the more frightening for it. With a neat pinch he removes the sheath and puts it back on the table, then the movement is too fast to see as his hand lashes forward and Debbie cries out a little as she feels the bite in her thigh, and she hears a scuffle next to her as Lou tries to intervene. They're both held fast though, and the man is smirking a little as he sets the now empty syringe back on the table. 

He turns to Lou, as if Debbie is no longer worthy of his attention. He's done with her after all, for the time being. 

"Now, Miss Miller. Miss Ocean here has just received a dose of atropine, a fascinating drug. In some cases it can save your life. It's widely used in medicine for all sorts of things. However, in the right dosage it can also be a very effective poison. It is one of the active compounds in deadly nightshade, and it's also found in henbane and mandrake. Man has been killing with it for centuries, and..." here he tilts his head in some kind of twisted acknowledgement, "Woman too, of course. Poison is so frequently classed as a woman's weapon. Deaths from atropine have become increasingly rare, because there are so many antidotes to it now, and its use for other purposes is so widespread-" and here he lifts up another syringe from the table, this one with its needle still sheathed, its contents catching the light, "We have such an antidote here, but whether or not Miss Ocean receives it will depend on how much you can endure. I am sure you love her enough to die for her, the question now becomes whether you love her enough to live for her. I assure you, what we have planned for you will make that question very difficult to answer indeed."

"I'm not afraid of you."

And Debbie's heart /aches/ with pride because Lou has never ever been willing to bow and scrape. She's always been ready to fight the world, sometimes just because, and although with age some of that's mellowed (or at least, she's gotten better at picking her battles), at this moment Debbie can see the leather-clad, punk-rocker blonde who'd stolen her heart without so much as a by-your-leave twenty years ago and held it ever since. 

"Oh, but you will be."

And he gestures, and there's a searing pain in Debbie's gut and she bends over double as much as she can in the iron grip they have her in, panting for air as the pain shortcircuits her entire body... and then just as suddenly, it stops, leaving only a dull ache in its wake, and Lou's eyes are wide and staring at Debbie, and Debbie just wants to drown in them. 

"You see, we have here the perfect pair of hostages. The best way to ensure your compliance is to threaten the other, and of course, you will then cooperate. Unfortunately for you the only thing we wish to achieve here is your death, and it will not be quick, however we might make it easier on you if you are sufficiently... entertaining. So, make your choice, because the longer you insist on playing this foolish game, the longer your friend has to wait for the antidote, and I assure you the action of atropine can be quite unpleasant. It affects the parasympathetic nervous system, you see."

Lou spits at him, and Debbie watches it land on the tip of his polished shoe.

He gives a brief inclination of his head, and one of the men holding Lou drives his fist against her side, and Lou /screams/ and Debbie screams with her, because it's as if he knew exactly where to hit, unerringly striking the fresh stab wound hidden beneath her leathers. 

There's a few moments of silence, broken by panting and a few bitten off sobs before Lou raises her head again, hatred glittering in her eyes, but her shoulders are slumped and Debbie starts shaking her head as Lou licks her lips to speak. 

"Fine. Do your worst. I'm not. Afraid of you."

And Lou has stopped fighting and somehow that makes it worse as the four men (she's honestly a little flattered that it's four) drag Debbie through a doorway to their left. There are two chairs in there, they look uncomfortably like dentist's chairs, and there's bile burning the back of Debbie's throat. She isn't sure whether that's the situation, or the first symptoms of whatever it was that bastard had jabbed into her thigh.

Debbie's not surprised when they manhandle her onto one of them roughly, and start strapping her in place. This isn't a usual dentist's chair. It's reminding her a little more of an examination table, and the thought of stirrups being involved makes her stomach turn again. She's thoroughly restrained, with separate bands around her ankles, her wrists, her waist, her shoulders, and her head. They don't want her to be able to look away it seems, as Lou is dragged in after her to the other chair. 

They don't strap Lou down as much, and Debbie is wondering why until it clicks, and she gags a little. They want Lou to react. They want her to have a 'choice' in playing along with this sick little game. They tie her wrists and ankles down, then they're doing something by her head and Debbie can't see, but she grins a little victoriously when there's a yelp and a curse, though she flinches when the victim backhands Lou across the face. When they move out of the way there's a bit gag between Lou's teeth and her lip's split, blue eyes fierce as the blood trickles slowly down her chin, stark against her pale skin. 

The one who backhanded her caresses her face gently now, and Debbie can tell that if Lou didn't have the gag in, she'd have spit in his face. 

"Now now pretty thing, I think you should stay put don't you? If you want your friend to get her medicine, you'll play along."

And Debbie feels her heart shatter into a thousand shards of broken glass in her chest as Lou slumps back against the chair, nothing but defeat in her eyes. 

Debbie can feel her vision blurring, and she isn't sure if it's despair or drugs as she watches the man with the syringe advance on Lou. So this is it, they're going to die. Somehow, she had never once thought that it would end like this.

**Author's Note:**

> Restraints is one of the prompts I'm planning on reusing for part 10 of this series. Incidentally, for Whumptober I'd only planned a 10 fic series across the 31 prompts (well, 9 fics, and then a 10th bonus one reusing some of the prompts). Last week I had an idea for an 11th part, no whump (as such), no prompts, just a little something in this universe dealing with some of the aftermath and a little bit of sweetness. Let me know if that's something you might be interested in seeing?
> 
> I really do promise there will be a happy ending. We're almost through the bulk of it, I swear. Stick with me. It will be worth it.


End file.
